A Welcome Change
by Sippin'OnFire
Summary: Two years after the Disasteroid ghost attacks were steadily decreasing, some ghosts even disappeared entirely. Ember McLain was one of those ghosts, so when she hosts a concert a few hours away from Amity Park, Danny decides to get some answers. What he discovers turns out to be a welcome change. One shot for now.


**Honestly not sure if this will stay a one shot or if I'll continue it. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

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Well, this is certainly interesting.

I scanned everyone as I invisibly passed through the crowd of roaring fans. I couldn't say for sure, but everyone seemed normal. They didn't seem to be under any sort of control. Without any context this might seem completely ordinary, so why should I be concerned?

Well, I'm concerned because the one performing is Ember.

I remained invisible as I floated off the ground towards the stage. From what I heard, Ember is taking a short break backstage. Many questions plagued my mind as I phased through the walls looking for her. It's been two years since the Disasteroid and Ember has been practically nonexistent. What I mean by this is that over the course of those two years I haven't seen or heard from her at all.

Actually, now that I think about it, this seems to be the case with every ghost now. Before the Disasteroid I had to fend ghosts off constantly, sometimes more than once a day, but now I can count the amount of ghost attacks each month on one hand.

My eyes locked on a door leading to a conveniently named room called the "Break Room." If I was a betting boy, I'd say that's where Ember most likely is. Well, if I wanted answers, now was a good a time as any. I glanced around to make sure the coast was clear before dropping to the ground and turning visible again.

I could barely make out the muffled sounds of voices coming from behind the door. From what I could tell there was more than one person in the room, or in this case more than one ghost. That was slightly unsettling, I was hoping to catch Ember by herself. As least that way if things went south it'd be a much easier situation to deal with. With the possibility of there being more than one ghost, this is going to be a whole lot more troublesome.

Instead of turning intangible and heading straight in, I decided to knock on the door three times. What? I have no idea what she's doing in there, I'm not just going to phase in and risk seeing something I don't want to.

As soon as I knocked the room went quiet for a few seconds. Then a very familiar voice shouted, "Who is it?"

Clearing my throat, I changed my voice to mask who I was. I didn't want to risk them recognizing me right away. Thinking quickly, I came up with an excuse, "Uh, it's time to go back on stage."

"What? It's only been a few minutes, I thought I had a ten minute break?"

I already regretted my decision not to just phase through and confront them, "Oh, that's right! My bad, I forgot."

I could only imagine her eye roll at my stupidity, "Whatever, I don't need you to tell me when my break is over anyway. I know when to go back out."

Panicking, I hastily replied, "Well could you let me in? I have something else I want to discuss with you!"

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

A moment later I could hear her angry stomps coming towards the door. The closer she got the more I tensed up. I breathed deeply and exhaled to relax myself, all the while preparing for anything.

The door was ripped open and Ember's irritated voice floated out, "What do you-" She cut herself off as her eyes landed on me. Her mouth dropped in surprise as she stared at me in confusion. Then her eyes narrowed in annoyance, "The fuck? What are you doing here dipstick?"

I opened my mouth to reply but I was cut off when someone from behind Ember shouted, "Dipstick? Wait, Phantom's here!?"

I glanced over Ember's shoulder at the one who shouted. I cursed my luck as I saw not only Kitty, but Desiree and Spectra as well. Kitty was the one who shouted so I waved in response before I focused back on Ember, "To answer your question I'm here because I heard through the grapevine that the notorious Ember McLain was performing a concert a few hours away from Amity Park. After hardly seeing you for the past two years, you can say I was a _wee _bit curious at this sudden reappearance of yours."

It was true too. I was in school when I found out about this. I was walking down the hall with Sam and Tucker when I overheard a couple of students talking about Ember's concert. After looking at each other in confusion Tucker used his PDA and did some searching. Turns out the students weren't kidding, Ember was in fact hosting a concert a few hours away from Amity Park. So after a very long and exhausting discussion, I convinced Sam and Tucker to stay behind while I went to investigate. So thus, here I am.

Ember opened her mouth to reply but a few voices coming from down the hall got our attention. She scoffed as she grabbed my arm and yanked me into the room, slamming the door behind her. After locking her door she threw my arm to the side and glared at me, "Why the fuck do you care?"

I stared at her in disbelief as I responded, "Uh, do you really need to ask that? In case you forgot, I'm your enemy. I had to make sure you weren't trying to 'take over the world' or something."

Ember sighed in irritation as she walked past me, bumping me with her shoulder. I rubbed said shoulder as I watched her take a seat with the others. After sitting down she focused back on me, "Well you can leave dipstick 'cause I'm not up to anything. I just want to play my music."

I quirked a brow as I glanced between her and the others, "And how do I know if you are telling the truth? I mean, if it was just you here than I might be inclined to believe you. Though with them here I'm not so sure. The last time you three were together you made every man in Amity Park disappear. Now you added Desiree so there's that as well."

Desiree and Spectra glared at me while Kitty released an exasperated sigh. Kitty looked me in the eyes and said as honestly as she could, "She's telling the truh Danny. She doesn't have an evil scheme up her sleeve this time. She just wants to play her music that, by the way, she's been working _very _hard on for the last two years."

Spectra nodded as she added, "As for why we're here, we just wanted to support our friend."

Desiree narrowed her eyes as she chipped in, "And if you do anything to mess with her show tonight child we won't hesitate to turn you into a permanent member of the Ghost Zone."

I chuckled nervously at that, "Noted."

Ember shifted in her seat which caused me to turn my gaze back to her. She stared at me silently for a moment before speaking, "There's a reason you didn't see any of us for the past two years."

"And that is?" I asked her.

Ember leaned back into her seat and draped her arms on the back of the couch, crossing her legs, "Honestly, after the whole Disasteroid thing, we did some thinking. We're just tired of the whole 'evil villain' thing. I for one want to just focus on my music and become the rock star I always wanted to be. Also, I'm done fighting with you all the time. Sure I'll beat you around here and there, but that's just for fun."

Kitty nodded and she continued for Ember, "That goes for all of us and almost every ghost in the Ghost Zone. If you don't believe us just take a trip into the Ghost Zone and see for yourself. Hell, the only one who truly hunts you now is Skulker. That guy's got a sick obsession with wanting your 'pelt' or whatever."

"You have _no _idea."

We all chuckled at that before Ember said, "The point is we're just _tired _of all that shit. I'm surprised Walker hasn't declared a formal truce between the Ghost Zone and you yet."

My jaw dropped at that, "A...truce?"

Ember laughed at my dumbfounded expression while Kitty explained, "Yeah, a truce. One that stops all ghosts from attacking you and the world with malice intent and vice versa."

I scratched the back of my head while I stared blankly at the ground, "Okay wow, this is a lot to take in."

Ember glanced over at a clock on the wall before standing up and briskly walking over to the door, "Well go process it somewhere else, I have a concert to get back to." Before she passed me she abruptly stopped. She didn't so much as look at me as she said, "Unless you disagree with the truce and wanna fight right now. What will it be?"

I watched as the others stood up in anticipation of my answer, eyeing me warily in case I decided not to go along with the truce. It took me only a few seconds of thought before I put them at ease, "Don't worry, I'm all for the truce. Get back to your show."

It happened so fast I'm not even sure if I actually saw it or if it was a figment of my imagination, but Ember genuinely smiled.

As Ember and the others were about to exit the room I said one last thing, "I believe what you all said, but if it just so happens that you actually did lie to me, I'll rush right back here and send you all packing back to the Ghost Zone."

With that being said, they left me alone in the room with my thoughts. All I could do for the next few minutes was stand there and think about everything that was just said. It wasn't until the faint sound of Ember's music starting up again that I was able to pull myself from my thoughts and leave. I phased straight up through the roof and back into the cold night.

I floated high above the crowd to where they couldn't see me. I listened and watched Ember play and noticed just how..._free_ she looked. Like she was actually happy and content, not warped by evil but just relishing in the praise of the crowd.

In one instance she just so happened to glance upwards at me. I smiled, saluted her, and took off back to Amity Park.

Ever since the Disasteroid my life has changed for the better, even more so now. This doesn't mean I will stop training or anything like that, after all I still have so much potential to get even stronger. But for once in my life, instead of training to fend off evil ghosts who were trying to kill me and everyone else, I was training to hone my skills and better myself. At long last there seemed to be a semblance of peace on the horizon.

However, how long will that last?


End file.
